Billy Corgan Wants You to Invite Him to Your House So He Can Make a Documentary About America
Photo by Kristin Page
In a note posted to his website People and Their Cars, Billy Corgan has announced that starting today, he and his “mate Justin” are embarking on a journey across the country to “chart the beginnings of a new documentary I’m aching to make about America.” They don’t have any set route, and are instead asking fans to tell them where to go. “If that intrigues you, and you or yours have family along our route, we’d like you to contact us with good heart,” he writes. “For we’ll need help and support to make this work as I imagine it in my mind.”
He also says he wants to perform in “old-fashioned parlors and the like” where he can collect “impressions of the country as it once was.”
The trip begins today, before the Smashing Pumpkins‘ “In Plainsong” acoustic tour kicks off in March.
Here’s the salient bit, which includes an idea of what the project will entail:
So though it may seem I’d be more interested in where the cool kids hang about, we’ll be much more taken with documenting the stories of an elderly class that can share impressions of the country as it once was; good, bad, or indifferent. And in order to do so with integrity, I’ll need to be invited into old-fashioned parlors and the like to retain some sense memory of what’s come and gone. In exchange, I’ll bring along a guitar to play, in what we’ll call an unofficial tour before the IN PLAINSONG shows; all of which go on sale this Friday, February 5th.
Here’s another excerpt of his mission statement, in which he offers a mea culpa for his history of contentiousness:
For often I’ve said far too much, and too often, without some clear intent by which to measure myself other than a wish to be proven right by time. So if there is a judge listening, it is here I wish to resign my long-beleaguered suit against so many. The grounds upon which it labored, meritless.
So what does that leave untouched? A simple impression found, and the music comes of it.
For newer sights I look towards ruinous America, and her open road. Or something approximating the mightiest byway of the 1800′s, the grand Mississippi, and that closest urbane chimera, Route 66. Add one ruddy military vet and a stack of maps, and we’ll hit out on those same veins and tributaries, heading from Chicago first towards more temperate climes. Hopeful that I might write a new album by using the milk of Delta mud, amongst other things.
At the bottom of the post, he asks readers to “find us if you will, and guide us.” So, if you’ve got a good idea where Corgan should visit if he wants to find the real America—and if you want him to play in your parlor—let him know here.
In the note, he also said the “In Plainsong” tour will feature a suite of songs taken from Siamese Dream.
The Smashing Pumpkins:
03-22 Portland, OR – Schnitzer Hall *
03-23 Seattle, WA – The Paramount *
03-25 San Francisco, CA – The Masonic *
03-26-27 Los Angeles, CA – The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
03-29 Salt Lake City, UT – Kingsbury Hall *
03-30 Denver, CO – Ellie Caulkins Opera House *
04-01 Detroit, MI – The Fillmore *
04-02 Columbus, OH – Palace Theatre *
04-04 New York, NY – Beacon Theatre *
04-08 Philadelphia, PA – Tower Theatre *
04-09 Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre *
04-10 Washington, D. C. – Lincoln Theatre *
04-12 Toronto, Ontario – Massey Hall *
04-14 Chicago, IL – Civic Opera House *
04-15 Louisville, KY – Palace Theatre *
04-16 Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium *
04-18 Dallas, TX – Majestic Theatre *
04-19 Austin, TX – Bass Concert Hall *
04-20 Houston, TX – Cullen Performance Hall *
* with Liz Phair
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